Not an issue. There is no way any team can have depth at every position. Regardless, I think we are good. We have a couple of guys after Drake and Williams who could be decent. The key is injuries and whether one particular unit gets hit multiple of times.

I like Drake. Whether he can hold up to a big workload, well there would have to be some skepticism on that point.

If Ajayi went down, do we really have a guy who can pound it in there with a heavy workload? I have my concerns. Maybe the kid from Michigan goes to the practice squad and gets called up if something awful happens.

More realistically, Gase will have to work his magic in that case. Probably RBBC with Drake and Williams plus Smith. Maybe more short passes for ball control.

I could easily see us pick up another every down back in the mid rounds next year.

Armando has had some good articles recently ... but IMHO, this is not one of them. He missed the mark with this one. We did not draft depth. We have exactly 1 good pass rusher, so we drafted arguably the 2nd best pass rusher in this draft. He may eventually replace Wake, but make no mistake about it, Harris will start on passing downs. Pass rushers are a vital part of the defense, and calling them depth is wholly incorrect.

Then looking at Raekwon McMillan, this kid is going to start. The only questions are where and when? IMHO, the when will be game 1. The where is harder to identify, but my guess (100% speculation) is that it will initially be at Sam with Timmons manning the middle. Ultimately though, I see McMillan starting at Mike for 10+ years ... but it is unclear whether that will start this year or next.

Tankersley, yes he was brought in sort of as depth, but really it is to be the starting corner opposite Xavien Howard. Maxwell holds down that spot now, and Tank is too raw to compete for it outright this year, but eventually, that is the plan. This is the prospect that requires the most development.

Isaac Asiata is absolutely being brought in to start. He's definitely not a depth pick. If he becomes depth, then Asiata has either gotten injured early or simply flopped. Asiata was chosen to be our starting guard and blow open lanes for the J-Train.

The DT's are depth ... but they're later 5th and 6th round picks! At that point in the draft a team is lucky to get depth. Heck, we were super-fortunate to get a starting quality LG like Asiata in the 5th. The top two picks were 100% need picks to obtain a starter. We just got lucky that for once our need matched up with BPA where we drafted. Our draft was absolutely not about depth. Armondo missed the mark this time.

Free agency was about depth and plugging holes ... but that's what it is supposed to be about. In that process we obtained starters too, but not stars. Starters like the re-signing of Stills and Branch, the acquisition of Timmons and Allen/McDonald at Safety (one will start, and if we have any injuries, both will start at some point). I'd say we brought in Larsen as depth, but only because we drafted Asiata to start. See, there are only so many starting spots ... and we filled them .. with starters.

It must be hard to come up with coherent themes to write pieces every day. I admit this is probably quite challenging. But they can't all be gems. This article is not Armondo's best.

Armando has had some good articles recently ... but IMHO, this is not one of them. He missed the mark with this one. We did not draft depth. We have exactly 1 good pass rusher, so we drafted arguably the 2nd best pass rusher in this draft. He may eventually replace Wake, but make no mistake about it, Harris will start on passing downs. Pass rushers are a vital part of the defense, and calling them depth is wholly incorrect.

Then looking at Raekwon McMillan, this kid is going to start. The only questions are where and when? IMHO, the when will be game 1. The where is harder to identify, but my guess (100% speculation) is that it will initially be at Sam with Timmons manning the middle. Ultimately though, I see McMillan starting at Mike for 10+ years ... but it is unclear whether that will start this year or next.

Tankersley, yes he was brought in sort of as depth, but really it is to be the starting corner opposite Xavien Howard. Maxwell holds down that spot now, and Tank is too raw to compete for it outright this year, but eventually, that is the plan. This is the prospect that requires the most development.

Isaac Asiata is absolutely being brought in to start. He's definitely not a depth pick. If he becomes depth, then Asiata has either gotten injured early or simply flopped. Asiata was chosen to be our starting guard and blow open lanes for the J-Train.

The DT's are depth ... but they're later 5th and 6th round picks! At that point in the draft a team is lucky to get depth. Heck, we were super-fortunate to get a starting quality LG like Asiata in the 5th. The top two picks were 100% need picks to obtain a starter. We just got lucky that for once our need matched up with BPA where we drafted. Our draft was absolutely not about depth. Armondo missed the mark this time.

Free agency was about depth and plugging holes ... but that's what it is supposed to be about. In that process we obtained starters too, but not stars. Starters like the re-signing of Stills and Branch, the acquisition of Timmons and Allen/McDonald at Safety (one will start, and if we have any injuries, both will start at some point). I'd say we brought in Larsen as depth, but only because we drafted Asiata to start. See, there are only so many starting spots ... and we filled them .. with starters.

It must be hard to come up with coherent themes to write pieces every day. I admit this is probably quite challenging. But they can't all be gems. This article is not Armondo's best.

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Love the post brother!!! I see things very much like you. We all need to let the Adam Gase process continue and great things will come. The man isn't a loser. He doesn't accept anything half ***. Things like him benching Jay was a sign to show the team anyone is expendable. So, come to work, work hard, reach your potential, and Gase will show the love right back as we seen with Kiko, Branch, and Stills. This team is turning the corner right before our eyes. We have to give our owner credit for the hiring of Coach Gase. This man is the future in NFL coaching IMO.

spot on Digital...not at all worried about RB depth either....god forbid we did lose Ajayi, we simply activate the rookie Deveon Smith and go with Drake Williams and Smith...gotta say Mandos articles as of late haven't been his usual garbage but this one is back to normal for him

I do agree, though, that the team lacks depth at running back. Don't want to dwell on what the team could have drafted if not for the Carroo trade, but this would have been a nice draft to add a running back even in the later rounds. One of my favorites was Foreman who went in the third right around where Miami would have been picking.

The combination of Ajayi and Drake should be good and that may be enough if there aren't any injuries.

We just need to have a balanced offensive game plan in place every week and we will be fine. Fortunately, we're loaded with weapons in the passing game and we have a very good QB throwing the football. I don't only mean pass/run balance though -- get Kenyan Drake involved more.

Damien Williams is so underrated and under appreciated around here. I'm not mad about it just shocked. People claim to know football, claim to have an eye for talent and then go on to say we're thin at RB. I've seen this all over the board I am not directing this to the original poster by any means.

We have Ajayi, Damien Williams and Kenyan Drake. I like that trio and you never know who will hit the wire. I just don't see a new name coming in and playing more than Williams. Drake is set to get an increased work load so honestly I just don' see how anyone else plays meaningful snaps

I couldn't be happier with the AJayi-Drake-Williams trio we have at RB.

Young, vibrant players. Drake was the third RB selected last year and very likely should've been drafted higher than the third round.

Much like in college, Kenyan is behind a bruising bell cow on the depth chart which might serve him well in the long run. Drake's skill set is as a hybrid RB/WR and KR so he should get his touches in unconventional ways while still spelling the J-train.

The RB position is one of the biggest reasons for excitement surrounding this team IMO.

Armando is wrong about this one. He should have looked at DT. How are we worse off with two proven guys compared to two rookies at DT? We've seen Drake and Williams on the field. We have not seen Godchaux and Taylor. How many times do you see a 5th round, rookie DT come into the league and take on 30-40% of the defensive snaps? Let alone two of them.

Suh: 85% of the snaps
Phillips: 54% (Gase said he needs more this year)

That leaves about 61% of the snaps up for grabs at DT. Hayes could take on about 20%. Still 41% short.

If Ajayi goes down, we could sign a PS player and split carries between Drake and Williams. I thing Drake would be hard to take off the field though.

Jacksonville and New Orleans. Outside of that most teams either have a stud like Elliot, D.Johnson or Bell and aging vet's behind them or 3 nobodies.

We are sitting pretty with our returning trio with varying skill sets. There will certainly be ways to feature Ajayi and Drake at the same time and the jack of all trades master of none Damien Williams will continue to provide ST's help and always be ready to play at the drop of a dime on offense.

Frankly, I'd feel better if Drake didn't have a history of injuries. Love his talent, but staying on the field has been an issue. So far, Ajayi hasn't had any issues with the knee so that's not really a concern. Still, it's something to consider long-term.

He'll go somewhere he can back up a legit starter and maybe only have to touch the ball 6-8 times a game to help insure he stays on the field for 16 weeks. He'd make sense for Dallas and Pittsburgh.

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I doubt he signs with Miami , but he make more sense here than in Dallas. The Cowboys already have Elliott, McFadden and Morris. I think he would have a better shot at fighting for backup carries with Drake and Williams than McFadden and Morris.

I would keep an eye on Seattle. With Lacy, Rawls and Prosise, plus they drafted rookie Chris Carson. I could see them trading or releasing Alex Collins, who Miami had some interest in in the 2016 draft.

Jacksonville and New Orleans. Outside of that most teams either have a stud like Elliot, D.Johnson or Bell and aging vet's behind them or 3 nobodies.

We are sitting pretty with our returning trio with varying skill sets. There will certainly be ways to feature Ajayi and Drake at the same time and the jack of all trades master of none Damien Williams will continue to provide ST's help and always be ready to play at the drop of a dime on offense.

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Yet those teams aren't the depth Gods across both sides of the ball. All teams, or most that aren't NE, have issues somewhere.

Yep the DT is certainly a depth area of concern. I was happy to see us use 2 picks at that position in the draft even though they were in the 5th and 6th rounds. I thought they were good value where we picked them to. Still if I am Gase I would have a plan B in my back pocket in free agency and he probably does.

Yep the DT is certainly a depth area of concern. I was happy to see us use 2 picks at that position in the draft even though they were in the 5th and 6th rounds. I thought they were good value where we picked them to. Still if I am Gase I would have a plan B in my back pocket in free agency and he probably does.

We both might like them that doesn't mean they are NFL material. Common mistake I see a lot on here is folks on this forum assume we will fill our holes through the draft which is just wrong. Maybe we can is the correct assumtion.

As I asked before....how many 5th and 6th round defensive tackles make a significant contribution in year 1?

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A good portion. According to the snap counts on profootballreference, over the past 2 years 6 of 10 DT/NT drafted in rounds 5 or 6 played at least 25% of their teams defensive snaps as rookies......which is about the same percentage as our 3rd DT played last year. 3 of those played 40% or more.

Yes, we need depth. The Patriots have 3-4 running backs they would feel ok starting.

But we did not have the draft picks compared to our needs.

We, unlike the Patriots, have to overpay free agents to play here.

Jay Ajayi has a ...uh...an Ego. He showed that clearly last season. If we have drafted an RB or picked up a big name in free agency, we would have to deal with his Ego again. If we had managed to get Mike Gillispie back, think of the pouting Ajayi might go through again. And I'm not kidding here.

It is not an accident that we made zero moves towards getting another decent running back. And having "too many" good running backs is not a "problem" we have.

Gase and company have to hope that Ajayi stays healthy and Drake can pick up the slack. Jay Ajayi ran for the 4th most yards in the NFL last season averaging only 17.3 carries per game but at a 4.9 YPC clip.

Tannehill, Williams, and Drake each added around 35-40 carries each for the season with Drake having better stats than D Williams had.

Jay Ajayi had so few carries because of us last season because we only started to run the ball with him at about game 6. So he "missed" about 125 carries. Last season Mike Gillispie for the Bills had 101 carries for 5.7 YPC to reduce McCoy's workload. We need someone to step up without stepping on Ajayi's toes. Or Ego.

Damien Williams is so underrated and under appreciated around here. I'm not mad about it just shocked. People claim to know football, claim to have an eye for talent and then go on to say we're thin at RB. I've seen this all over the board I am not directing this to the original poster by any means.

We have Ajayi, Damien Williams and Kenyan Drake. I like that trio and you never know who will hit the wire. I just don't see a new name coming in and playing more than Williams. Drake is set to get an increased work load so honestly I just don' see how anyone else plays meaningful snaps

A good portion. According to the snap counts on profootballreference, over the past 2 years 6 of 10 DT/NT drafted in rounds 5 or 6 played at least 25% of their teams defensive snaps as rookies......which is about the same percentage as our 3rd DT played last year. 3 of those played 40% or more.

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I wouldn't exactly call 25% of the snaps a significant contribution. Especially if they are getting run all over. It depends on the quality of play. Earl Mitchell played many snaps over the last couple of years but I didn't see many quality snaps from him. he got the snaps because we didn't have anyone better. That's a testament to a lack of depth.

Suh played 85% of the defensive snaps. That's an inordinate amount for a big man. He was among league leaders. How long can he keep that up at 30+ years old? Jordan Phillips played 54% but only about half of those were quality snaps based on reports.

We really had no clear #3 DT last year but Mitchell (injured most of the year) played 3rd most at 26% and shared with Chris Jones (8%), Leon Orr (3%), as well as Julius Warmsley, Nick Williams & Jason Jones in sub-packages. All of those (5) guys combined for about 61% of the DT snaps not taken by our #1 and #2.